Education Commons^™

Empathy, Social Intelligence And Critical Thinking: What Can Theatre Education Offer?, Jane Dewey

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This study examines the relationship of theatre, education, and emotional and social intelligence. The applied research component explores what theatrical processes can offer the efforts to address the issues of bullying by developing skills (focusing on empathy) to help deal with that issue in a substantive way. In this study, I provide a selected review of literature with regards to: how theatre has historically addressed social issues, the current state of bullying with an emphasis on bullying in schools, and how theatre is currently addressing the issue of bullying in both school and theatrical settings. The role that emotional and …

Mining Our Heritage: Oral History And Place-Based Learning In The Adirondacks, Christine Campeau

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Cultural history museums and historic sites recognize the power of storytelling to engage and educate their visitors. Public schools ingrained in a standards-based curriculum often overlook the value of family stories and local history. The emerging discipline of place-based education offers a pedagogical approach that uses the local community as the focal point, providing a unique curriculum that extends beyond the traditional school walls. Oral history is a fundamental methodology for connecting students to regional history and culture, and is an ideal introduction to the broader theoretical perspective of place-based education. This research explores the concept of using oral history …

Dispelling The Myth Of The One Tribe Nation The Work Of David W Ojnarowicz, Jimmy C. Powell

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The work of artist David Wojnarowicz continues to illicit controversy 20 years after his death. Recently censored at the Smithsonian, his work is an example of the power of art as a tool for resistance and elucidation of not only political oppression, but cultural as well. Wojnarowicz explored the hegemonic relationship between agency and structure, making private moments public to dispel the notion of a ' one tribe nation'. Starting with a theoretical framework based on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of field production and ending with Giorgio Agamben's theory on the state of exception, this iconoclastic artist is examined to explore …

A Comparison Of The Washington Square Players And Mortimer J. Alder's Paideia Group, Liza Mcmahon

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The Washington Square Players evolved as a reaction to the formulaic art of the theater industry. Mortimer Adler led educational reform by creating the Paideia Group. Both the Players and Adler arise from New York during the Progressive Era. Similar to the Washington Square Players' declaration to produce "art for art's sake", the Paideia Group looked at education for education's sake. This paper is a comparison of the Washington Square Players and Mortimer J. Adler, the Chairman of the Paideia Group, as nonconformists grounded in democracy, who initiated reform amidst controversy.

Supporting Artists In The Gallery: The Role Of The Museum Educator At An Art College, India N. Clark

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Campus museums are uniquely positioned to enhance student learning and support faculty in achieving course objectives. By tapping the potential of objects, exhibition themes, and the gallery environment, museum professionals can empower faculty and students to make meaningful and relevant connections to curriculum content. Inspired by the successes in such endeavors of revered teaching museums at elite liberal arts colleges, but frustrated by the challenges of transferring model practices to the context of an art college, I set out to investigate what was possible at my own place of employment, the nation's only publicly funded art college, Massachusetts College of …

Transitions To A New Museum: An Examination Of The Factors That Lead Museums Toward Education As An Institution Priority, Tanya Tobias-Tomis

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This essay discusses how changes to state and federal funding, increasing competition from non-museum arts organizations and a desire to strengthen, build and diversify audiences encouraged museums to position education as an institutional priority. These factors combined with an intensifying frustration about a lack of professional standards and growing criticism of the field, encouraged museum educators to develop and adopt new, more effective ways of engaging audiences. This essay also explores how and why museums universally adopted Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to better position themselves to compete for participation and funding. This essay concludes with several suggestions, or a plan, …

An Art Classroom Curriculum Integrating Art History And Ela, Lisa M. Catalano

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Nora, having finished drinking her milk, tosses her sippy-cup to the side. At first she doesn't see the casual stream of milk that has been strewn across the black wool carpet, but as you can imagine it does not escape her for long. Imagine the look on her face as she discovers that she can control the amount and pattern of the milk on the floor. She begins to tap the tip of the cup on the carpet watching the white spots this creates. As pools of white are formed she takes her fingers and drags them across the rug …

Differentiating Art Curriculum For Students With Learning And Emotional Disabilities, Susan Ackerman

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Participation in the visual arts should be a pleasurable, vital learning experience for students with special needs. Art teachers without formal training are challenged by differentiating curricula for these special education students due to current teacher certification requirements. Art teachers of special education students strive to provide the most creative atmosphere possible while struggling to balance the demands of behavior management these children require. To understand this dilemma, this paper begins with an exploration of disability's integration into our education system and the impact of federal legislation on society's desire to teach everyone equally. It presents theories of creativity that …

Updating Undergraduate Graphic Design Programs: Recommendations For Including Communications And A History Of Technology In Graphic Design Education In Order To Better Prepare Graphic Design Students For Their Profession, Jacquie Drews

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The knowledge required for today's graphic design students to become well-rounded communication professionals is changing due to new technologies and new communication media. Revising educational curricula to satisfy these new needs must be addressed in the undergraduate graphic design programs that are currently being offered by art schools, colleges, and universities.

A review of the literature, along with surveys of selected design firms in the Washington, DC area and professors at institutions offering undergraduate graphic design degrees, shows that communications studies and a background in the history of technology are two additional curriculum areas that would help to better prepare …

Light Movement & Sound: An Approach To Energetic Education, Barbara Bornmann

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Communication exists on several levels. A widely accepted definition of these levels of communication is the exchange of ideas through a symbolic, gestural or linguistic system. For the purposes of this paper, a broader definition of communication which includes the use of human energy is reached by categorizing these levels as: 1) The conscious levels of intelligence which are language, academic disciplines, artistic expressions; and, 2) The subconscious levels of non-verbal communication, gestures and body language; and, 3) The energy fields around the human body and how they may interact with other fields. The purpose of this paper is to …